The National Rifle Association lost its gun-rights argument against San Francisco Monday when the Supreme Court refused to take up the gun group’s case against a city law that requires gun owners to keep their firearms in a locked container or use a trigger lock.
The 9th U.S. Circuit of Appeals had rejected gun activists’ pleas to relax rules on guns that stipulated that anyone who keeps a firearm at home must store it in a locked container or place a trigger lock on the weapon. Another mandate bans the sale of ammunition that expands on impact, sometimes referred to as hollow-point bullets.
By refusing to hear the appeal, the Supreme Court maintained the March 2014 ruling that backed these measures. The rules were first issued in 2007.
The controversy is just one in a long line of litigation between the NRA and the city of San Francisco. In 2005, the organization challenged San Francisco Proposition H, which prohibited the ownership and sale of firearms. The NRA argued that the ban overstepped the bounds of state and local authority, an argument that the San Francisco County Superior Court agreed with, as it ruled in the NRA’s favor. It also rejected the city’s 2008 appeal.
In 2009, the NRA challenged San Francisco’s ban on guns in public housing. An agreement was reached between the NRA and the San Francisco Housing Authority that stated that residents can own legal firearms, provided they live in a housing authority apartment building.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-refuses-to-take-up-challenge-to-san-francisco-gun-law/2015/06/08/6a752596-0de3-11e5-adec-e82f8395c032_story.html
In a dissent, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said that some of the city’s courts are not granting full rights to private gun ownership. He argued that San Francisco does not fully abide by the 2008 District of Columbia v. Heller case, in which the Supreme Court protected a citizen’s right to own firearms for lawful purposes such as self-defense. Thomas said there was “no question” that San Francisco places strain on that ruling.
